No Swell? How to blog

AlisonMooreSmith

I have a Vanilla forum, but I'd really like to add a blog, if I an get some assistance.

Here's what I'd like:

On the home page I'd like to leave all the elements (side nav, top nav, logo, bottom links) except the large picture links in the main section. I'd like to replace all those pictures with a blog, leaving the rest of the site intact.

Can someone point me in the right direction? I'd prefer open source or free.

Luca Rossi gave me a lot of help with the CSS layout of my site. His site has a nice blog that would work very well. Any tips appreciate.

I use GoLive if that is helpfu.

garvin

Have you looked into Wordpress?

AlisonMooreSmith

Yes, and serendipity and typepad and movable type and textpattern.

What I can't figure out is how to INTEGRATE it into my existing site. In other words, I want the whole blog to be confined to the main content div so that my site can remain intact and have all the non-blog pages it still has seamlessly integrated.

I use GoLive for my site, and it has tools for typepad and mt, but there is almost no documentation from either side on how to use them. One page on the Adobe site.

Still I can't figure how to integrate it.

Creede

check out my blog and see if it is kinda what you want. http://www.grassrootsmodern.com It's a WP blog, then I added a banner extension on my forum so it shares continuity. Gotta love vanilla.

AlisonMooreSmith

It's kind of what I want. But I have hundreds of pages that are NOT part of either Vanilla or a blog. I want the blog stuck right into the main content div--leaving everything else as is. It seems that WP and the other programs create a whole PAGE and I want the blog text in an existing page.

blueonyx

For me does vanilla the job well right now. I only created a category called Blog and added a link with the Page Management extension. But i only post every 2 weeks or so. I'm not sure whether it is an option for you.

If you want to integrate other sites in your vanilla you can look at the exention.php in the vanilla root directory. With this you can make things like this. You can put in whatever you want and it have the elements of your vanilla (side bar, header and so on).

Toivo

WP & V integration? I still think it is better to start 100% blogging in lussumo & create some nice css that could present lussumo in the same way the most blogs are presented (latest post on the top, full posts) WP & V integration is a dead end. Just my 5 eurocents.

AlisonMooreSmith

I'm sorry, I'm not being clear. The problem isn't so much figuring out how to do a blog look--with Vanilla or something else--but in determining whether I can put a blog INTO ONE DIV in an existing site without changing the look of the rest of the site. I already have the problem that my Vanilla board doesn't LOOK like the rest of my site. I changed the style sheets to match most colors, etc, but it's still got the Vanilla look...not the Mormon Momma look. I want to be able to creat a blog on my home page that keeps the page intact, so the blog just happens to be the CONTENT on a few of the site pages--not an entity unto itself. (Here are the blog pages, here are the board pages, here are the other pages...) Clear as mud? While we're at it, could I do the same with Vanilla? http://www.mormonmomma.com

blueonyx

Hm well from my point of view you do it the other way round. I would not try to integrate vanilla into my site, but my site into vanilla. That's much easier i think. The only thing i see atm is that you look how vanilla gets the content and then put it into your div but that's hard. Or you have to create a new vanilla theme but that is also much work. Sorry if i'm no help.

Dinoboff

@AlisonMooreSmith : You can do what ever you want with vanilla, with a new style, or with a new theme or with some addon. Vanilla can look like anything you want. See the all the themes and styles from jazzman, the website of bergamot, Johnson & Johnson's Caregivers forums, etc...

AlisonMooreSmith

Probably true, blueonyx. Problem is, my site is already there. And vanilla is only a tiny part of the site. tjlyte, that's exactly what I want! Dinoboff, I suppose I'm just not code savvy enough to figure out how to do it. The vanilla sites I've seen are all pretty similar--except for colors, fonts, etc. THAT stuff I can change (and have), but I don't know how to make massive changes to the look. I'll have to keep learning, I guess. Hi Crede, I live in Eagle Mountain, in Utah County. Not far. :)

traveljunkie

hey there, had the same problem. finished site and then i wanted to add wordpress and vanilla. this article should be helpful here: http://www.devlounge.net/articles/customizing-vanilla. it's about integrating vanilla visually into wordpress, but the basic principle is the same for integrating vanilla and wordpress into your existing site. i managed to do it. well, still have loads of css left, but the big stuff is done. and the only thing i know is basic html. enjoy, b

Creede

Travel, I was going to do it that way, until I saw marks comment about the banner extension. I went that route because it means you don't have to redo all that template hacking on every upgrade of vanilla.

AlisonMooreSmith

Thanks, junkie! I'll read that in-depth and see if I can figure it out. Timeframe, tj? Of course, I need it right away. But I can also wait a little while. Meaning that I'd like to have done it last week, but if I can't figure out how to do it, I don't have any choice but to wait! Let me know if you come up with something. And I guess I'll be digging up Mark's comment about banner extension, eh? Although it doesn't sound like it would work with my existin site anyway...

tjlytle

Another suggestion is a few lines of code that display a nicely formatted RSS feed, then you could just use some service that provides feeds of your posts. You could also use some service's API (like blogger), and handle all new comments from a form on *your* site, then display them with another RSS feed. Any thoughts? Edit: Does anyone know if you can add a comment using the Blogger API (or the new GData API)?

traveljunkie

creede: actually you shouldn't have have to hack your templates again when you upgrade. isn't that the point of having templates, that when you upgrade, the only files that are affected are the core files and your template stays untouched? correct me if i'm wrong. and anyways, i only added a bit of html to 4 files from the original vanilla theme and once you figured out what to do it shouldn't take more than 15 minutes to do it again.

Dinoboff

Yes you are right travel - at least with 1.0.x - your template will always work. The only thing you might have to do is add the new delegation that could have been added to default template filed if you want all new extensions work with them.

AlisonMooreSmith

I've tried four times to get an account on Wordpress to answer some of my question, but I never get the email with a password. I can't email them because they don't accept email support questions. Can someone who has an account over their ask how to get the email with the password if you don't get it? Yes, I've tried the "forgot password" avenue, still didn't get a password. Thanks.

snowcrash

AMS, I know an obvious question, but have you checked your spam/junk filters? Unless the WP email system is down, that is probably the reason. Maybe try using another email account to register.

AlisonMooreSmith

Yup, I have. (Mine doesn't trash the junk, it just marks it. I don't get anything.) I've used two different email accounts (on different domains) to try to get in.

phaded

I know I'm a bit late to the party, but I use Textpattern for my blog, and I can assure you it'd be pretty easy to do what you're asking with just a little bit of elbow grease.